Cloud9’s North American Valorant team was left with only three players earlier this week after TenZ decided to focus on content creation. Despite that, the team is still competing at the NSG Winter Championship.
With Tyson "TenZ" Ngo leaving Cloud9 Blue just a few days back many fans were worried about the team’s next event. Fortunately, Cloud9 were quick to find some stand-ins. Son "xeta" Seon-ho and Nathan “leaf” Orf are standing in for Cloud9 Blue during the NSG Winter Championship.
Rumors of the org signing Nathan “leaf” Orf have been around for the past month, but no official confirmation was given. Leaf was a promising CS:GO prodigy in the NA scene as part of the Chaos Esports roster before it eventually disbanded. Instead of looking for a new CS:GO team, Orf decided to switch titles and jumped ship to Valorant.
Son "xeta" Seon-ho was part of Cloud9’s Korean team which was disbanded in mid-December. Ever since, we haven’t seen much of him, but he might soon relocate to the NA region. Much like leaf, xeta also has a CS:GO background. He last played for TYLOO.
Nerd Street Gamers: Winter Championship
The latest Nerd Street Gamers Valorant event is already underway with the Winter Championship which features sixteen teams from the North American region:
- Cloud9 Blue
- Team Envy
- Dignitas
- Sentinels
- Equinox Esports
- Luminosity Gaming
- Team 2D
- XSET
- Moon Raccoons
- Ghost Gaming
- Andbox
- eUnited
- Sedated
- NRG
- Built by Gamers
- Spacestation Gaming
Cloud9 Blue already won the first series in their group after beating eUnited 2-1. The Blue squad will have another opponent tomorrow in the face of Equinox Esports. Even with stand-ins, Cloud9 is performing well and we’ll probably see them in the playoffs.What’s even more impressive is that xeta was playing with 200 ping and still managed to exceed expectations.
200 ping? No problem #C9BLUE take the 2-1 #C9WIN over @eUnited in Group D of the #WC2021! pic.twitter.com/ErfddUMU33
— Cloud9 (@Cloud9) January 15, 2021
The competition at the Winter Championship is fierce and it won’t be easy for Cloud9 as many other teams are also eyeing the trophy.
It remains to be seen whether the two stand-ins will become permanent players on the Cloud9 roster. Chances are it’ll depend on the results they show in the current event. You can catch the action live on the official Nerd Street Gamers Twitch channel.
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